The Portland Thorns were reduced to nine players and still defeated the Seattle Reign 2-0 on Friday at Providence Park in one of the strangest chapters in the 44-game history of the NWSL rivalry.
“This game is gonna be a really hard, difficult, painful lesson for all of us,” Seattle captain Jess Fishlock said.
Portland had a player sent off in each half — the first two red cards in 14 years of matches between the teams — and scored both goals while down a player.
Seattle, which endured a harrowing week of travel to and from Orlando for their season-opener, struggled to break down Portland’s defensive shape and registered only three shots on goal despite the advantage. Cassandra Bogere received two yellow cards only 56 seconds apart and she was sent off in the ninth minute.
Portland responded with a goal on a corner kick in the 28th minute, when Olivia Moultrie’s in-swinger found the head of Pietra Tordin. The Thorns doubled the lead nine minutes later when Moultrie played a ball forward to Tordin, who played Reilyn Turner in behind for a 1-v-1 with Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey. Turner buried her shot to send the home crowd of 23,321 fans into a frenzy.
Portland, still holding a two-goal lead, was reduced to nine players in the 57th minute when defender Reyna Reyes was sent off for violent conduct. After video review, referee Elvis Osmanovic determined that Reyes pulled the hair of Reign defender Madison Curry.
Thorns coach Robert Vilahamn said they had trained for a 10-v-11 scenario but not for going down two players.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been down two [players] ever in my life,” Tordin said. “I think this was the first time. I don’t think this is something you train for; I think this is something that you just fight while you’re in there.”
Seattle only registered three shots on goal in their 33 minutes of playing 9-v-11.
“We needed to move the ball and shift them and make them run, and we didn’t do that enough,” Reign head coach Laura Harvey said. “And I think that was our downfall. We just kept trying to force things instead of moving the ball and being a little bit patient. It’s like we needed to score immediately.”
Thorns forward Sophia Wilson entered the match immediately after Reyes’ ejection, marking Wilson’s first home game since 2024. She missed all of 2025 on maternity leave and came off the bench in Week 1 on the road for Portland.
Defender Marie Müller also came on and the Thorns dropped into a rare 5-2-1 formation to defend their lead.
Seattle entered the Friday’s match after a harrowing week of travel to and from Orlando that featured over four hours of delays leaving, a nearly two-hour weather delay at halftime of that match (which the Reign won, 2-1), and then a 36-hour slog home after canceled flights and an emergency booking of a charter plane.
Harvey said before the match that she thinks the team slept about 15 hours total over three nights.
After the match, Fishlock said the fatigue from travel was not a factor, but Harvey felt otherwise.
“When you’re fatigued, the first thing that goes is your brain,” Harvey said.
Vilahamn only joined the Thorns last week less than 48 hours before their season opener after awaiting his visa, but Portland has defeated the Washington Spirit runners-up each of the last two years on the road and Seattle to open the season.
“This is massive to make sure we build a culture where we feel like we win together no matter what, we find ways to win, we take the duels, we use the roster,” Vilahamn said of the nature of the victory.
“You build a team togetherness that is even more important than the points, I think, and after this game we can all make sure that we can grow this group even stronger. If you want to have an amazing year, you don’t just do it by playing great football; you do it with the great character and togetherness.”
Banda scores a birthday goal in draw
Summit forward Melissa Kössler and Pride forward Barbra Banda each scored for their teams for the second consecutive game in the draw in Orlando.
In the 24th minute, Kossler scored on a perfectly slipped in ball from Natasha Flint.
Banda equalized on her birthday in the 61st minute on a cross into the box from Jacquie Ovalle.
It was the first point earned by the expansion Summit and head coach Nick Cushing after a season-opening loss at Bay FC.
Racing Louisville squanders two-goal lead and settle for home draw
Kayla Fischer opened the scoring for Racing Louisville in the 28th minute with an assist from Emma Sears.
Sears scored a goal of her own in the 42nd minute. Picking up a loose ball, she dribbled it end to end to finish past goalkeeper Sandy MacIver for the 2-0 lead.
Sofia Cantore closed the gap for the Spirit in the 50th minute with a blast from outside of the box. Leicy Santos completed the comeback for the visitors with a goal in the 74th.
Spirit midfielder Andi Sullivan returned from maternity leave to make her first appearance since Oct. 6, 2024.
Information from Associated Press contributed to this report.
